Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb with Red Wine and Maple Syrup

This was gooood. I've seen maple used with roasts before but usually its pork but I thought I would give it a go and it was worth experimenting with. As an educated guess I would say that a well flavoured honey would work equally as well. Tonight I used about 1 tbs of maple syrup but I think that 2 or 3 would have been better, the flavour really goes to the background but the result is quite complex. The actual best part  of this (apart from the ridiculously tender meat) was the mushrooms, they really absorbed all of the flavours and intensified them.

1 lamb leg (mine was about 2.5kg)
2 cups red wine
2 or 3tbs maple syrup
1 sprig of rosemary stripped
3 cloves of garlic in thick slices
4 cloves garlic whole, skin on
About 10 button mushrooms
1 or 2 tbs cream
2 or 3 tsp porcini salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Potato (I used Desiree)
Thyme sprigs
Steamed snow peas

Make small incisions into the lamb with a small sharp knife all over the lamb. Widen each with either your finger or the non-business end of a spoon or knife. Shove the slices of garlic into the newly formed holes in the lamb, pour a little oil over the lamb, season with porcini salt and pepper and massage the rosemary all over the leg. Add the mushroom, whole garlic, wine and maple syrup into a roasting dish or large saucepan, add the lamb on top, add foil (or a lid) and place into a pre-heated 130C oven for 3 hours. After 3 hours remove the lid, increase the temperature to 140C and baste the lamb with the red wine. Place back into the oven for another 2 hours uncovered, basting every 20 - 30 minutes. Slice the potatoes in half length ways and boil until just tender. Remove the lamb from the oven to a clean plate and cover with foil and a tea towel. Squish the garlic out of its skin into the red wine, add the cream and mix in. Place the red wine on the stove top over a medium heat to reduce a little, adding more liquid if required. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the thyme then the potatoes cut side down. Cook until golden. Carve the meat, serve with the potato and steamed snow peas and the red wine and maple sauce.